Cincinnati Preview
January 19, 2007 11:55 AM | General
January 19, 2007
GAME NOTES
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Life on the road in the Big East is full of potholes and landmines. Stealing a Big East road game is like finding gold and West Virginia coach John Beilein knows that all too well.
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| John Beilein watches his team play South Florida at the WVU Coliseum on Wednesday, January 17.
AP photo |
“You have to be one of the top three or four teams in the Big East to win on the road,” Beilein said Thursday. “Last year, I think we had two (road) wins and we finished third in the league. It is something that just doesn’t happen.”
Being on the road is something West Virginia is going to have to get used to: four of its next five games are away from the Coliseum.
The Mountaineers (14-3, 4-2) got back on the winning side of the ledger with a 69-58 victory over South Florida Wednesday night in Morgantown and Beilein was pleased with the result.
“I thought it was a great win for us from the standpoint that we’re such a young team. We’ve been out of the road and our confidence was lagging a little bit,” he said. “We got off to a good start and held on for a little bit in the second half.”
West Virginia’s previous two Big East road trips resulted in losses at Notre Dame and Marquette. The two teams have a combined record of 31-7.
“I heard about our two-game slump against Notre Dame and Marquette: two teams that are probably going to be playing in the NCAA tournament. That’s the way it’s going to be,” Beilein said. “We’re not worried about whether it is road or home -- we’re just trying to get better.”
West Virginia gets another opportunity for improvement against a tough-luck Cincinnati team that nearly knocked off Syracuse at the Carrier Dome Wednesday night. The Bearcats nearly overcame a Syracuse double-digit lead before eventually falling 77-76.
“They came very close to doing what most of us have never done and that is win in the Carrier Dome,” Beilein said.
Cincinnati (9-8) is still looking for its first victory in conference play, having dropped its first three to Rutgers, South Florida and Syracuse. The Bearcats under first year coach Cronin are in the midst of a five-game losing streak.
Syracuse led Cincinnati by 14 at halftime and was cruising until the Bearcats made a 10-0 run to cut Syracuse’s lead to one. Six-eight junior forward Marcus Sikes made a career-high eight 3-pointers and finished the game with 24 points. Guard Deonta Vaughn added 13 points.
Vaughn, a freshman, is Cincinnati’s top scorer averaging 13.7 points per game. Six-six forward John Williamson is averaging 13.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, while Sikes has boosted his scoring averaging to 10.1 points per game.
“They obviously have a very talented team that is coming together,” said Beilein.
The Bearcats are 8-3 this year at Fifth Third Arena, but do show home victories over Xavier and N.C. State. Last year, West Virginia lost at Cincinnati 78-75 to end the regular season.
“It’s interesting to watch and see how we develop but it’s a long, long thing for us,” Beilein admitted.
Tip off is scheduled for noon and the game will be televised on ESPN Plus (Don Criqui and Bob Valvano). Local stations carrying the game include WCHS (Charleston), WOAY (Oak Hill), WVFX (Clarksburg), WTOV (Wheeling), WTAP (Parkersburg), WJAL (Chambersburg, Pa.) and WTAE (Pittsburgh). The game can also be purchased on ESPN’s Full Court package.
Briefly:
“It was the first game we’ve played when our students were actually on campus,” Beilein said. “We had every student seat filled and it was a good win for a young team to bounce back.”
“It was a good adjustment and it is one that is not easy to get everybody comfortable with it,” Beilein said. “I think it’s all part of that word process that I use all the time of trying to figure out what is the best way for this team to achieve?
“What I’ve learned coming up the way that I did being a head coach at smaller levels is that you have to be versatile,” Beilein said. “To be versatile you can’t say, ‘OK, we can’t win because we don’t have the specific type of player you need to win.’ What you learn is to survive and be more versatile in your approach. Your players have to learn to adapt to a different style; you adapt … you change your style.”
“I don’t know what it is with me? If we were the opposite right now I probably wouldn’t be surprised either. I just expect our guys to practice and play hard every day and try and get better every day,” he said. “We’ve been very fortunate with our schedule: we’ve had a lot of home games.”
